CHD8, a gene that has emerged as one of the strongest risk factors for autism, regulates the expression of more than half of a set of ‘high-confidence’ risk genes for the disorder. The unpublished data were presented Saturday at the 2014 International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

Sequencing studies over the past few years have made a dramatic and unexpected discovery: Many of the mutations in individuals with autism are in genes that regulate chromatin, which helps package DNA in the cell nucleus, say Gerald Crabtree and Aryaman Shalizi.

A new network analysis of autism genes, published 11 June in Translational Psychiatry, highlights both the pitfalls and the promise of the approach, says Alan Packer.
 

A significant proportion of mutations linked to autism alter proteins that regulate gene expression by modifying the structure of DNA, according to a study published 13 November in Molecular Psychiatry.

A new candidate gene for autism, CHD8, may account for up to 0.4 percent of cases of the disorder, according to research published today in Science. CHD8 is one of six genes identified that together may contribute to one percent of autism cases.

Large-scale swapping of genetic material between chromosomes may play an important role in autism, according to a study published 27 April in Cell.